EVERYTHING is an adventure

social media

Instagram has changed over the past year or so. It used be quite a niche and creative space, and it’s fantastic for that. Now, however, I have started to feel like it’s an extension of Facebook with babies and holiday scenery and “Look at my perfect (not so perfect on the other side of the camera) life”.

It was with this in mind that I went in search of some “real Instagram creativity”. I want to fill my timeline with creative inspiration and take a break from the mundane everyday life highlights that flood it at the moment.

Here are some of the top creative Instagram accounts that I have come across in the process:

It is such a glamorous idea, working for yourself – waking up late, working in your PJs, jetting off wherever you want without taking leave and just rolling in the cash in the process. Right? Right. Except that is not what it is. There is a misconception of how this whole ‘Be your own Boss’ thing works and it’s almost like people think that because you’re not chained to a desk and trying to stay out of office politics that affect your career, you’ve got it easy.

I made the great escape from corporate and started out on my own and have been at it for nearly 3 years already. I’ve often been asked by friends how to do it and if they should give it a go and I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while now, so that you all know.

South Africa is rife with entrepreneurship and my brother once told me that if you’ve got something to sell/provide and you’re confident that there are enough people that will pay you for it, then you can start your own business. This is true, but there are very unique obstacles to working for yourself that you have to be prepared to accept and be strong enough to deal with, else you should just stay in that little corporate bubble and count your blessings because if you fall, you fall pretty hard and take an emotional beating along the way.

I love my current setup and the way that I work, I love my clients and how I handle them, but it is not an easy game and here’s the cold hard truth as to why.

You need money to start

Even if you’re not starting a business that requires a capital outlay, you will need money to live while you get things up and running and find people who want to give you their money. Gather this up beforehand so that you don’t have to stress about covering your expenses while you’re starting to find your feet. Have the finances covered and then you can focus on what you need to do to start making some regular money.

Clients don’t just fall into your lap

Unless you are incredibly well connected (with no restraint of trade) and are the only provider of air to humans, this is going to be a really difficult step. Just because you’re good at something or have something to offer doesn’t mean that this will attract clients through wind pollination. You will have to get out there, go to stupid networking events, cold-call, phone in favours, research and schmooz. And you’re going to have to do it over and over again until you are in a position where you’re getting enough money in to be comfortable. You will be shot down and messed around and just take it in your stride.

Once you’ve done it, you’re well on your way. It’s far more rewarding to have done this on your own than to have relied on corporate structures to give you what you need.

Working in pyjamas is overrated

There will come a time when you wake up one day and head on over to your desk and realise that if you wear another pair of yoga pants in your life you’re going to die lonely and suffocated by all your cats.

There’s nothing better than snuggling up under a blankie with your laptop in the middle of winter though, no self-respecting humans should be out in that weather.

It can be isolating

When you’re no longer in an office full of people all day every day, you’re suddenly faced with your own self, all the time. I am well aware that I am awesome, but nobody else is going to tell me that. You also won’t be invited to Johnny from Accounts’ braai and find yourself trying to find an excuse not to go. Bouncing ideas can be tricky and there’s no such thing as a year-end function with free champagne.

Self-discipline is a real thing

You’ve got to be the kind of person that is self-motivated, self-disciplined and have skin as thick as a rhino, naturally. You’ve got nobody to pat you on the back when you’ve done a good job and also nobody to kak you out if you’ve done a bad one. It’s all you, babe. You’ve got to focus and not play with the neighbour’s cat instead or go ride horses on the beach because it seems more fun (I really have done these things, it’s no joke).

You don’t get a holiday

You can GO on holiday, for sure, but your work goes with you. You’ll quickly learn how to multi-task so that your work fits in with whatever you’re doing and doesn’t make too much of a fuss on your holiday, but you’ll never really be away from it unless you have someone you trust to cover for you while you’re gone (this is rare to find and when you do, hold on damn tight).

You need emergency funds, all the time

Pack away some savings and keep it replenished. There will be times when your clients pay you late, or pay you at the last minute with a cheque that only clears in a week, just for fun. You’ll need emergency funds to cover your important expenses while you wait for them to get their shit together.

You are everything

You are everything to your business. You need to understand marketing and sales, tax (vomit) and finances, business development, IT, admin, project management, client relationship management, data analysis and whatever else is thrown your way. Also remember to be a normal human being too and have a social life and some fun.

Opportunities are endless

All that being said, if you can jump over all those hurdles on a daily basis and enjoy the challenges of each new day, you will find a freedom that you won’t get anywhere else. (I can neither confirm nor deny having worked while lying on the beach). Opportunities really are endless and you can shape things however you see fit. That’s worth any amount of hard work, I tell you.

If you’re fairly active in the social media world, you’re likely enjoying Twitter and the inter-connectedness it offers. You’re meeting new people online and offline and sapping up all the networking that comes with it.

1. He’s not what his bio says he his
He makes himself out to be just amazing. Desirable. He’s taken qualities that everyone loves and mashed them together into ‘I’m Mr. Awesome’. He’s likely just a dork in real life, compensating for the attention he missed out on in his pre-digital years.

2. If he’s big on Twitter, he’s only big on Twitter
These guys tend to take their online status VERY seriously. To the point that they actually don’t have all that much real going on offline. Offline, they talk about what’s going on online, ALL the time. They validate their worth by their online following.

3. If he chased you on Twitter, he’s probably chasing someone else there too
Twitter is not a dating site. Guys that use it as one like to break the rules and get a thrill from the chase. Once you’re there in real life, the game is over and it’s time for a new one.

Although social media is an exciting and extremely useful environment to be in, it also provides an easy opportunity for exaggeration and embellishment of the facts. Everyone wants to be noticed, and some are just clever enough to market themselves well so that you to believe what you read.

Don’t fall for the guy on Twitter, fall for the one in real life.

(Granted, neither has worked for me very well, but it sounds like good advice, right?)

Twitter is an interesting place. It is by far the most useful and honest social media platform and I actually get value from taking part in the Twitter love. The most entertainment for me, is reading people’s Bios and seeing what they really relate to in (online) reality, once you get to know them. I’ve created my list of favourites for your reading pleasure. Feel free to add some of your own.

Bio

Reality

Entrepreneur

Currently unemployed and once thought about starting some sort of business.

Traveller

I go away on holiday once a year in December, after slaving away for 11.5 months in an office. It’s pretty cool.

Views are my own

I feel that I am important enough to my big corporate that they care what I say.

Photographer

I Instagram a lot of pictures of sunsets.

Lover of life

I’m not quite sure what I’m into, but anything you say is cool!

Living on the edge

I skydived once.

*Long philosophical sentence about dancing and clouds and love*

(I don’t think I need to explain this one.)

Writer

I tweet a lot.

I have a passion for everything

I’m terribly boring.

*Please note – this is all in jest and in the name of laughs

It is interesting to see how people portray themselves publicly and what their actions actually say…

Having said that, and looked at my Bio again, I have to confess that I don’t actually live on a chandelier. Terribly sorry to disappoint.

I, of all people, have spent a week (almost) without a Smartphone. I’ll pause while you gasp…

…

I am what people would call a ‘superuser’. My phone is with me 24/7. Well, until the Durban July happened and my phone stayed in Durban while I flew back to JHB. I’m now using a handset that I’m sure was made in China in 1994.

I decided to treat this temporary break from my heart and lungs as an experiment.

Here are my findings:

1. Life goes on without a smartphone

2. Going places isn’t as fun when you can’t check in and make your friends jealous (okay that one is not actually true)

3. Talking to people on the phone is not only novel, but also quite pleasant

4. I had to remember how to spell again

5. My brain has become a lot quieter

6. People annoy me less

7. My true friends revealed themselves

Granted, I did still have access to social media sites via my laptop and iPad, but the constant presence of the digital world became mild and more voluntary.

It has really been pleasant I must say.

This bears plenty of philosophical questions…

Has society transformed into online memes? Have we lost our touch with humanity? Can we still differentiate between real and digital? With the online and offline world fast merging into one social ‘being’, is it possible to still separate the two?

Back in the day, we used to have personal personas and professional personas. Is this still possible today?Are we actually at that point in social evolution where we can no longer put on the ‘decent human being’ mask for one crowd, and let loose for another? Is the digital world forcing us to be more honest and more moral?

My personal feeling is that the digital social world is not actually isolating us from real life, it is just creating another facet of it. A facet that demands honesty and integrity. Is that really bad?

Today I learnt about real life. For 27 years I thought I was there, but I was somewhere else…somewhere easier and breezier. Somewhere with a pretty mask to cover the underlying struggle for something more, something better, something more meaningful. Well, after all this time I have found that something that I didn’t even know that I was looking for. I found my freedom and my untainted happiness. And it’s freaking scary!

You’re sitting there thinking “I’m not sure what this woman is on about, but sounds vaguely familiar”, aren’t you?

I remember sitting in meetings in my previous soul-destroying corporate job and doodling a sketch of a flower, always the same sketch, and imagining that I was somewhere else, doing something else that is meaningful to me.

Well now I am somewhere else, doing something else that is meaningful to me.

I don’t want this to be a business punt on my blog, but rather a reflection on the risk I’m taking and reminding myself why I’m doing it. It is very, very real. Everything is a lot more difficult when you don’t have an IT department to fix something for you, or Accounts to advise you on anything, or even a printer. I’ve been learning a lot since I started working for myself – far more than the permanent corporate lifestyle could ever give me.

I know that I have a passion and I know that this passion can help others, so I do believe that I can make this work.

My message to you, though, is:

Life’s too short for ‘just okay’.

There is no reason to be miserable 5 days out of 7 every week. Find your passion and take that risk!

Oh yes, and follow Social Ideas on Twitter and Facebook, if that’s what you’re into 🙂 Please also keep me in mind when anyone mentions social media work – it will be greatly appreciated (businesses or individuals – I’m here to help and advise) – I couldn’t resist 😉

In today’s social media age, the gold rush is to get followers. It’s like human blood for vampires, or the opportunity to speak B.S. publicly to a massive audience for Julius Malema.

It’s like the world is about to run out of air and the only way to get more is to get another follower. Social media heroine. Already I feel the need for a fix… *twitch *twitch

Let’s just all be logical about this, though. Take the needle out of your arm and focus.

Yes, you need followers. Without them, you might as well be in a black hole, listening to the echo of your own voice. But would you rather have a thousand followers who are spambots, or 100 followers that you can actually engage with? Hillbrow whore or upper class escort?

All I’m saying is that we all need a strategy – attract the right kind of followers and you’ll get far more satisfaction out of the whole experience (no I am not still referring to prostitution).

I came across ihadcancer.com yesterday and just had to share it on my blog. It’s a social network for cancer survivors, fighters and supporters that provides an opportunity to connect with other people going through the same struggles that you are and a space for you to share.

I’ve never written about my mom’s constant struggle with breast cancer and this provides the perfect opportunity to let off some ‘cancer steam’.

I particularly like the section called ‘Dear Cancer’ which will be hearing from me soon! This is where you can literally send a message to cancer. Reading some of these messages are really heart-wrenching, but they also show the strength of the human character when faced with something so vicious and merciless.

If you are affected by cancer, directly or indirectly, I encourage you to join this network and share your stories. You can find me as Popcorncandi if you would like to connect with me there.